Family rescues abandoned 'puppy' but soon realizes it wasn't a puppy at all

Susannah Wollman

Contributing Writer

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A family from Whitehorse, Canada, was surprised to learn that the infant animal they found near Marsh Lake over Easter weekend wasn't a puppy as they had thought.

Abandoned and in poor health, the little creature didn’t even have its eyes open yet. Fortunately, the family happened upon it and knew they had to do something to save its life.

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Ralph Shopland, the man who discovered the little animal, said he “defaulted to thinking it was a dog.” The family took to Facebook to find a surrogate mom for the baby, and they did, indeed, find a wet nurse. After a few days, they found out that the “puppy” wasn’t a puppy at all.

Pictured below is the location where the baby animal was found:

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Officials at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve weren’t sure what it was either. The Shoplands thought it might be an otter or a wolverine, but the wildlife experts had another idea.

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Those experts thought it was a fox. Young foxes have white tips on their tails, as does this baby does. They’ve decided to adopt a wait-and-see attitude until the “pup” has grown a bit more.

Under normal circumstances, it is best to leave animals that appear to be abandoned in the wild alone. Mama is probably nearby, watching and waiting for the person to leave before returning to her little one. In this case, workers at the preserve think that the mother was probably hit by a car and died, leaving her baby to fend for itself.

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Now being bottle-fed, it looks like this baby animal will be well cared for and will likely lead a long and healthy life.

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Watch the video and determine for yourself what you think this little fellow might be.